Yaw Strings: Who's got 'em?

[Catmando]

BTW, anybody here ever fly an aircraft with a "yaw string"?

IIRC, the AF-9j and the F-14A had one (as well as civilian gliders). Maybe it was a only Grumman thing.... although I don't think the A-6 had one, did they?

Regardless, I found it was an extremely important (though lo-tech as it was) device to assist greater accuracy in weapons delivery, both air-to-air and air-to-ground.

 

[HuggyU2]

Catmando,
There are still active US military jet aircraft flying with a yaw string on them.
Front, top, center on the open canopy.

 

[ea6bflyr]

Catmando,
There are still active US military jet aircraft flying with a yaw string on them.
Front, top, center on the open canopy.

Huggy,
I question the utility of said Yaw String in aircraft pictured. It's like a cigarette lighter in the car of a non-smoker.

-ea6bflyr

 

[RyanF]

BTW, anybody here ever fly an aircraft with a "yaw string"?

Yep, the 2 gliders I fly have them.

 

[HuggyU2]

Huggy,
I question the utility of said Yaw String in aircraft pictured. It's like a cigarette lighter in the car of a non-smoker.

I'm a non-smoker, and "upgraded" the lighter in my truck, making it SIGINT capable (via my high end radar detector).
And in a pinch, I can recharge my cell phone, and even inflate my own tire!
And maybe that string doubles as a special "antenna" for receiving certain signals. Hmmmm.... :icon_smil

 

[Swanee]

Yep, the 2 gliders I fly have them.

Concur. In fact I don't think I've flown a glider without one. It's a great low tech tool. FWIW we use them in sailing too, but they are called tell tales and we use them to trim sails.

 

[Schnugg]

Here's one on an F-14D.
See:
http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/060922-N-1129M-017.jpg

 

[Rocketman]

I had one on my 1-26. Wish I had it back. The yaw string and the glider

 

[vick]

Yaw string on the U-2 and the yaw vane on the AV8.

 

[eddie]

Yep, the 2 gliders I fly have them.

Same. Schweitzer 1-26 and 2-33. They have always been good reminders to not suck.

 

[RHPF]

The glider I flew in at USAF TPS (as a visitor/guest) had one in it. I think it was a Schweitzer, but I could be wrong.

 

[phrogpilot73]

We can fly sideways. No need for yaw string.

 

[ea6bflyr]

We can fly sideways. No need for yaw string.

and backwards.

-ea6bflyr

 

[Rocketman]

The glider I flew in at USAF TPS (as a visitor/guest) had one in it. I think it was a Schweitzer, but I could be wrong.

They used to fly Schweitzer SG 2-33's.

 

[Junkball]

I had never heard of this hi-tech device. On a D-model Tomcat? For real?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaw_string
For the nonaquainted